Poverty Status of Persons 65 or Older in Beneficiary Families Based on Family Income

Age. Age classification is based on the age of the person at his or her last birthday as of March 2011. A married couple's age is defined as the age of the husband—unless he is under age 55 and the wife is 55 or older, in which case it is the age of the wife.

Aged unit. With age 55 as the cutoff, aged units are defined as married couples living together—at least one of whom is 55 or older—and nonmarried persons 55 or older.

Marital status. Married persons are married and living with their spouse. Nonmarried persons may be divorced, widowed, never married, separated, or married but living apart from their spouse.

Race. The categories White alone, Black alone, and Asian alone reflect respondents who reported only one race. Because of changes to the race category, data on race are not directly comparable to editions prior to 2002. A person's race is his or her reported race. A married couple's race is defined as the race of the husband.

Hispanic origin. Persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race. A married couple is of Hispanic origin if the husband is of Hispanic origin.

Family. A family is a group of two or more people (one of whom is the householder) related by birth, marriage, or adoption and residing together; all such people (including related subfamily members) are considered as members of one family.

Social Security beneficiary. A beneficiary may be receiving retired-worker benefits, dependents' or survivor benefits, disability benefits, or transitionally insured benefits.

Per capita income. Per capita income is total family income divided by the number of persons in the family.

Poverty. The Census Bureau uses a set of money income thresholds that vary by family size and composition to detect who is poor. If a family's total income is less than that family's threshold, then that family, and every individual in it, is considered poor. The poverty thresholds do not vary geographically, but they are updated annually for inflation with the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U). The official poverty definition counts money income before taxes and excludes capital gains and noncash benefits (such as public housing, Medicaid, and food stamps).

The ratio of Social Security income to total income. This ratio is defined as Social Security income divided by total income. Units and persons in families with less than $1 of total income or negative earnings or asset income are excluded from these tables.

Poverty Status of Persons 65 or Older in Beneficiary Families Based on Family Income Table 11.4 Persons in Social Security beneficiary families, by proportion of family from Social Security, sex, and age, 2010

Sex and age

Number (thousands)

Percentage below poverty line

Percentage below 125% of poverty line

Persons in families receiving less than 50 percent of income from Social Security

All persons 65 or older

15,290

0.8

1.7

65–69

5,516

0.9

1.9

70–74

3,747

0.5

1.2

75–79

2,632

0.7

1.6

80 or older

3,395

1.1

2.1

Men 65 or older

7,239

0.5

1.3

65–69

2,697

0.7

1.6

70–74

1,834

0.3

1.1

75–79

1,200

0.7

1.4

80 or older

1,509

0.4

0.9

Women 65 or older

8,050

1.0

2.1

65–69

2,819

1.0

2.2

70–74

1,913

0.6

1.4

75–79

1,432

0.7

1.8

80 or older

1,886

1.7

3.1

Persons in families receiving 50 to 89 percent of income from Social Security

All persons 65 or older

9,816

4.6

9.4

65–69

2,312

4.6

9.6

70–74

2,470

4.4

8.9

75–79

1,949

4.8

9.8

80 or older

3,085

4.5

9.3

Men 65 or older

4,158

3.2

7.1

65–69

981

3.8

8.4

70–74

1,087

3.7

7.8

75–79

854

2.5

6.0

80 or older

1,237

2.9

6.3

Women 65 or older

5,658

5.6

11.0

65–69

1,332

5.1

10.5

70–74

1,383

5.0

9.7

75–79

1,095

6.6

12.7

80 or older

1,849

5.6

11.3

Persons in families receiving 90 to 99 percent of income from Social Security

All persons 65 or older

3,815

12.0

24.1

65–69

790

11.8

22.7

70–74

749

9.6

19.6

75–79

788

12.0

26.1

80 or older

1,488

13.2

26.1

Men 65 or older

1,439

8.3

18.8

65–69

300

11.3

23.6

70–74

319

5.2

13.6

75–79

295

9.1

22.1

80 or older

525

8.1

17.4

Women 65 or older

2,376

14.2

27.4

65–69

490

12.1

22.1

70–74

430

12.9

24.1

75–79

493

13.8

28.6

80 or older

962

16.0

30.8

Persons in families receiving 100 percent of income from Social Security

All persons 65 or older

5,271

26.3

44.3

65–69

1,061

30.0

49.3

70–74

1,311

26.3

40.0

75–79

1,060

24.5

44.1

80 or older

1,839

25.3

44.5

Men 65 or older

1,949

21.2

39.4

65–69

442

31.9

49.8

70–74

518

17.4

28.4

75–79

448

18.5

41.4

80 or older

541

18.3

39.6

Women 65 or older

3,323

29.4

47.1

65–69

619

28.7

48.9

70–74

793

32.2

47.6

75–79

612

28.8

46.0

80 or older

1,298

28.2

46.5

NOTES: The family money income of aged persons is compared with the official poverty lines of families in 2010.

Persons in families with zero total income or with negative total income, earnings, or income from assets are excluded.